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Ayuba, who is also an Islamic cleric who teaches at an Arabic school in Ishasi, Lagos, was arrested together with a transporter in Ibadan, Oyo State, Falade Igbekele, who reportedly bought the stolen cars. A bunch of master keys and about 13 other car keys, as well as charms, were recovered from Ayuba.
Rasheed Ayuba was arrested in June after he entered into a hotel in the Ikotun area to steal a Toyota Camry parked on the premises. He was caught by neighborhood vigilantes as he was driving out with the car.
“I finished from an Arabic school in Ikotun and started teaching Arabic in Ishasi. At about 11pm on June 8, I went to a hotel around Ile-Iwe bus stop to steal a Toyota Camry. But I was arrested by the security guards in the area.
“I got the master keys I used from John, who is from Benin Republic. We met in 2013 in Lagos and he sold the master keys to me. Since then, I had been using them to steal cars. I usually sold the cars to my customers in Ibadan. One of them is Falade (Igbekele) to whom I sold six cars, and Friday, who bought a Toyota Camry.
“It was only four cars I had stolen this year before I was arrested. I sold a Toyota Camry to one pastor Dare for N100,000, and a Honda for N80,000 to another pastor. But pastor Dare had just paid me N50,000. They all knew I stole the cars.”
The buyer of the cars, fifty-two-year-old Igbekele confessed to have bought six cars from Ayuba, saying a friend introduced him to Ayuba.
“I knew Alfa Ayuba through a friend called Lucky Star. Lucky told me Alfa sells vehicles and I said I had interest in buying them. He had sold six vehicles to me so far, including a Nissan Sunny and a Nissan Primero. I bought them for N150,000 each.
“I bought all the cars from Alfa three years ago. He told me he stole them and I asked if I would not get into trouble; he said yes,” Igbekele confessed.
They have been charged to court.
